Objective: To explore clinical significance by detecting the expression of HLA-DR antigen in peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets of patients with cirrhosis after splenectomy. Methods: Twenty eight patients with cirrhosis received splenectomy were enrolled in the study, meanwhile, thirty eight patients with cirrhosis without splenectomy and twenty-two health donors were followed-up as the controls. The expressions of HLA-DR antigen in peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets were detected by flow cytometry. Results: The levels of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ were(41.59?6.79)% ,(22.64?6.87)% and(19.16?7.28)% respectively in peripheral blood of patients with splenectomy, which were significantly lower than that of the controls. The ratio of CD4+/CD8+ was higher than that of the health control. The expressions of HLA-DR on CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ were (25.42?5.51)% , (22.36?4.90)% and (28.53?8.35)% respectively in peripheral blood of patients with splenectomy. The expression of HLA-DR on CD4+ and CD8+ in patients with splenectomy was significantly higher than that of patients without splenectomy. Conclusion: There is cellular immune deficiency in patients with splenectomy. The expression of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ decrease significantly, and the levels of activated antigen HLA-DR on T cell subsets are low.